If the old saying “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” had any indication on how developers felt than Sony should be extremely thrilled to know that Dante’s Inferno is a very flattering God of War title.  That’s not to say Dante’s Inferno copies God of War exactly down to the tee, but it does borrow heavily in the most important aspect of the game: combat.  Whichever way you see it, Dante’s Inferno still has plenty of neat, original ideas that should peak some fan’s interests and after getting some playtime of EA’s latest action title, there are lots of things we like about this hellish game.

The story begins with Dante recalling his past events and how exactly he became about his current situation.  Dante was part of a group of crusading knights who invaded the Holy Land of Acre in 1191 and after being promised by a very shady priest that their souls would be purged after taking Acre, Dante’s actions eventually cause him to be destined to the Underworld for all eternity.  However, after facing his fate and meeting the Grim Reaper, Dante is in no hurry to go away quietly and a battle between Dante and the Reaper ensues.   After defeating the Reaper (in a rather unfulfilling battle), you can acquire his Scythe which soon becomes Dante’s main form of killing.

The combat in Dante’s Inferno is very similar to God of War, almost matching the control scheme perfectly.  Dante has his share of light and heavy attacks which can be performed by pressing the square and triangle buttons respectively.  Evading is as simple as flicking the right analog stick in the direction you want and blocking can be accessed by hitting the L2 button.  Mini-bosses can be killed in a similar God of War fashion by hitting the R2 button when it flashes across the enemies head.  Here, players must hit the buttons on screen correctly to successfully finish off the enemy in a rather gruesome way.  The button presses do get more interesting as you progress, sometimes forcing you to push the analog sticks in opposite directions to rip an opponent apart or flicking it up and down as you struggle to rip off its head.  The buttons you press seem significantly more fluid as your presses represent the actual control scheme and it does not seem as if you are just randomly pressing buttons.

Besides simply fighting enemies with his Scythe, Dante has a wide range of magical powers that can help him in sticky situations.  For starters, Dante has the ability to either punish or abolish enemies once he grabs them.  Whether you choose to punish (in which case Dante performs a brutal killing) or abolish (Dante uses his cross to set apart the enemies soul) enemies gives you points towards that side of the magic bar.  Dante has various move sets that can be used for both unholy and holy spells and deciding which enemies to kill could influence how you approach each battle.  Unholy attacks usually involve Dante using his Scythe to kill enemies while Holy attacks require Dante to use his cross to unleash devastating moves, such as the Holy Cross which fires white crosses at enemies.

Dante also has magic abilities that can be accessed by pressing L1 and selecting the corresponding button.  The only one we got to try was called Righteous Path where Dante dashed across the screen while leaving behind a trail of icy shards.  This move became particularly useful in the later parts of the level when Dante was overcome with dozens of enemies and a giant monstrous beast larger than the screen itself.  The demo eventually ended with Dante riding on top of the beast to mow down enemies and charging through a closed door to continue on.

From the little we played there is plenty to like about Dante’s Inferno.  Depending on how well you distinguish the similarities between God of War as a good or bad thing really can determine if you will enjoy this game or not, but there are plenty of original ideas that make this game stand out.  The story that sees Dante battling Death and venturing into Hell should be enjoyable and the angelic, orchestral music really stands out to set the mood as you battle through the various levels.  For those of you Xbox 360 owners who never had the chance to play a God of War title, consider this the closest you will get to see what all the fuss is about.

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About This Author: Josh Schwartzman

Been into gaming for as long as I can remember and have enjoyed every minute of it. I enjoy playing with everyone and anyone online and I am an avid PS3 and Xbox 360 player.

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